August 20, 2014 Bloomberg - A fee dispute between Time Warner Cable Inc. and its competitors that has left Los Angeles Dodgers games blacked out for most fans is threatening to undermine the merger of the nation’s two largest cable-television companies.
The decision by Time Warner Cable to raise the rates for competitors to air the baseball games has met resistance from companies including AT&T Inc. and DirecTV. An analysis based on data from SNL Kagan found that Time Warner Cable is asking for more than double what other regional sports networks charge.
With federal regulators now taking an interest in why 70 percent of local pay-TV customers have been without access to Dodgers games for months, the standoff could trip up Comcast Corp. as it tries to complete its acquisition of Time Warner Cable. Concern that the combined company’s heft would be wielded in a way that hurts competitors could lead regulators to block or impose conditions on the $42.5 billion merger.